Foul!

A top Asian football official said he had been deliberately smeared on Friday after he was accused of ordering documents to be hidden during an audit triggered by corruption claims. Asian Football Confederation (AFC) general secretary Alex Soosay blamed "election fever" after video surfaced of an employee of the Kuala Lumpur-based body making the claim against him. According to the Malay Mail, the AFC`s financial director said Soosay asked him to "tamper (with) or hide" documents during a 2012 audit. The audit by PricewaterhouseCoopers was ordered in the wake of claims of financial wrongdoing by former AFC chief Mohamed bin Hammam, who is now banned from football. But Soosay, speaking to AFP after this week`s AFC congress in Bahrain, said: "The case is closed. It was thoroughly done and dealt with and bin Hammam was suspended. "It`s completely, I don`t know, all of a sudden taken out of context. It`s election fever. But the...

It has been a roller-coaster year for the author. From being named Sports Journalist of the Year , venturing into a new job to receiving several letter of demands (one of them will now be tried next year), 2012 has been an 'interesting' journey. Here are some of the highlights of 2012 as seen on Foul! January Jan 4: Two athletes who competed at the Indonesia Sea Games were tested positive for banned substance. Jan 11: Negri Sembilan physiotherapist See Kim Leong passed away on Feb 5, 2011. Kim Leong's wife Audrey McLeod has not received a single cent as she was told her husband was " not insured ". Jan 14: BAM forms a three-man committee instead of hiring a high performance director. Told you so! Jan 19: The M-League 2012 was hardly a month old and yet it was rocked with match-fixing. Kes rasuah lagi. Jan 24: Contractors at the mercy of workers Jan 26: Johor prince takes over football Jan 28: Doctors against 1Care February Feb 1: Elyas ...

Samada pasukan-pasukan masih belum sempat menyesuaikan diri dengan tempoh 'rehat' yang lama, dah terlebih makan ketupat dan rendang atau....mungkin terlalu banyak perhatian diberikan kepada pasukan-pasukan 'gergasi' sehingga kita lupa kemampuan sebenar pasukan-pasukan yang lain. Inilah realiti Piala Malaysia. Tidak seperti Liga Super mahupun Premier, Piala Malaysia mempunyai cabaran yang tersendiri dan pasukan-pasukan yang cemerlang di liga masing-masing tidak semestinya akan mampu beraksi sedemikian di pertandingan ini. Kelantan, Selangor and LionsXII sudah tentu berduka cita dengan perlawanan pembuka tirai masing-masing. Kelantan kalah 2-0 kepada Terengganu, Selangor ditewaskan 2-1 oleh Sarawak manakala pasukan seberang Tambak hanya sekadar seri 0-0 dengan Johor FC. Namun Kelantan masih dikatakan pasukan 'pilihan' untuk digelar juara Piala Malaysia tahun ini. Jika ia menjadi kenyataan, maka ia boleh dikatakan sebagai "bitter sweet victory" ba...